Sagas of secular sanctity: Duty + class = melodrama

Most melodramas require viewers to suspend disbelief. Their narratives depend on outrageous twists of fate, unlikely coincidences, and unpredictable destinies. But, like television soap operas (of which I am also a fan), it’s not the storyline that is important. It’s the moral choices that the characters make in the face of misfortune. A popular plot device in 1930s melodramas featured a working-class heroine who makes a gut-wrenching sacrifice regarding her child in her struggle for financial security or social acceptance, often losing her child in the process. Examples include Stella Dallas, Madame X, Confession, The Sin of Madelon Claudet as well as The Secret of Madame Blanche.